


Goddess of War

by Siera_Knightwalker



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Badass!oc, Death, F/M, Friendship, Good deeds in life means you can have fun in Death, Kiri World Building, Lots of Murder, Loyalty, Mind Control, Mind Manipulation, OC does not know death, OC gets nice things too, Oc is wrong, SI OC - Freeform, SI!OC, SI-OC, Self-Insert, The Gamer Ability (The Gamer), This is not going to be easy, What is peace?, shit is going to hit the fan, soon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:29:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25922107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siera_Knightwalker/pseuds/Siera_Knightwalker
Summary: {Congratulations! You have been chosen to be reincarnated in the land of Kirigakure no Sato with the power of 'The Gamer'. Please enjoy and express customer satisfaction after your death!}Instead of my afterlife, I woke up in the single most dangerous place after the Warring Era.Thanks, I appreciate it, System!
Relationships: OC/?
Comments: 5
Kudos: 70





	1. Prologue

I opened my eyes.

If it weren't for the instantaneous panic that lanced through me at that moment, I would have fallen back to sleep.

I remembered the heat. The pain. My mind instinctively flinched away from those memories. I blinked, ready to face my afterlife…

A blue crystalline square appeared out of nowhere in front of my vision instead.

**Congratulations! You have been chosen to be reincarnated in the land of Kirigakure no Sato with the power of 'The Gamer'. Please enjoy and express customer satisfaction after your death.**

….what?

I blinked again. The…thing didn't go away.

I looked beyond it, and it obligingly became transparent so I could look around at my hazy surroundings. No idea.

I read the pop up again. I felt a little dizzy. Yes, I had died. Yes, something definitely happened after my death…but I didn't remember. It was a scary feeling. To be aware that _something_ happened but no idea what. My own memories betrayed me yet again.

It wasn't uncommon after all. People forgot things all the time. So did I. But every time I realized it, I was always a little scared. Of course I wished for picture perfect memory, who didn't? Specially because I had been a medical student in my previous life.

I shifted uncomfortably. Then I realized two things.

One, I was reincarnated. As in, _baby._

Two, I was in _Kirigakure no Sato_ , the bloody Mist. In Naruto. The most dangerous land post Warring Era. Where bloodline users die like crazy. Go missing via Orochi or Danzo or any other crazy lunatics. Or become missing nin. Or they join the rebellion.

_Fuck this life._

Seriously, fuck this life.

I might have asked for the powers of 'The Gamer' and I get it, you get to kill loads of people in Mist, but it's a freaking crazy place. _Crazy._

Even regardless of all those thoughts, a tinge of excitement crept up over me. It's not like I was bloodthirsty or anything…I just a bit of an adrenaline junkie. Just a tinge.

' _Main menu?'_ I thought. There was no way I was going to speak, specially when I knew where I was. Kiri was a place to either be super strong or be hidden among the crowd. And I was a very normal person in my previous life, actually.

A little nicer, a little kinder than the norm but very very average. I would need to know the _average_ here to blend in. At least in my younger years

'The Gamer' is a growth multiplier. So it was obvious that even with average training, I could still become extraordinary. So obviously, I need to go out with a _bang!_

Mwahahaha!

Right.

So. What can I do? I focused on the screen in front of me. Or _screens_ , more like it.

**[Perfect Recall] can be accessed when Intelligence is over 100.**

My eyes widened in shock.

Wait. It was a possibility?

But why was the required Intelligence number so high? Or was it? Maybe it was an average number?

Ugh. Half information was always so frustrating. She dismissed it. The next one was the Main Menu page.

**[Status]**

**[Inventory]**

**[Reputation]**

**[Skills]**

**[Settings]**

She focused on **[Settings]** because that was one of the basics of every game.

It opened up into a new page.

**[Gamer eyes] skill** _**locked** _

_[Party]_ _**partially disabled** _

_[Gamer's Mind]_ _**skill** _ _**permanently disabled** _

_**[Gamer's Body] skill active** _

_**[Natural Perks] unlocked** _

What.

Okay, was _not_ expecting that. I was expecting stuff like 'background music' or something. Not the pre-determined selections.

My eyes roamed over the words, getting fixed on a single one.

_[Party]_ _**partially disabled** _

Why 'partially'? If I didn't have party mode at all, I wouldn't have to tell anyone about it. But why 'partial'. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. There was something missing.

I went back to the previous page and chose **[Skills]**. There had to b something there.

* * *

**Skill List**

_**Passive Skills:** _

**Gamer's Body:**

Partially grants a body that allows the Gamer to live as if in a game.

Pain sensation decreases

HP & CP recovers fully after sleep

**Physical Resistance: Level 3**

Resists all abnormal status by 3%

**Medicine: Level 57**

Knowledge of the body and how to heal it.

Increases the experience gain of **[Medical Ninjutsu]** by 57%

_**Active Skills:** _

**Charisma: Level 35**

Gives you the ability to get people to like you.

Increases **[Reputation]** gain by 35%

**Breathing:** **Level 72**

You can breathe steadily.

Increases VIT by 7.2

**Music** : **Level 69**

You can use your voice or any instrument to create music. Your voice is pleasant to the ear.

Increases **[Reputation]** gain with people of high nobility by 6.9%

Increases [ **Reputation]** gain with people who hear you by 6.9%

**Cooking** **:** **Level 41**

Increases **[Reputation]** gain for all who eat your food by 41%

Can provide **[Buffs]**

**Meditation:** **Level 1**

You can sit still and meditate to gain the knowledge of the world to become a sage.

**This is a selected skill**

Increases your wisdom by 0.1

Increases your HP & CP regeneration by 1%

Cannot be activated in battlefield

Cannot be activated with another skill

**Telepathy: Level 1 (Cost: 50 CP)**

You can mentally communicate with people around you.

**This is a selected skill**

[Party] system can be partially accessed through this

Can induce **[Debuffs]** or abnormal status effects on targets.

* * *

So freaking OP.

How is this even possible. This is crazy. This last skill…

Also I had some useful skills for **[Reputation]** gains. Was that me or was the game trying to push me on a path, huh?

This whole thing had quite a lot of good things but there were also some things that could have been skills but were discarded. Like hair dressing. Or something.

Looks like I really did have a hand in the settings management of this game, then I must have selected these skills for a reason.

The 'selected skill' makes it obvious the path I wanted to follow. But what's weird was the meditation skill. The description made me think about Sage Mode, but it only had a permanent bonus for Wisdom. And only for 0.1 which wasn't that good. The end result would be 10 which was decent but was it even worth it?

Then there was only one answer.

This is an upgradable skill.

A skill window popped up in front of me instantly.

**You have received +1 Wisdom.**

Huh. Looks like I really was right. That's a relief. But until the age of 2 or 3 at least, I wouldn't be doing much anyway. Kakashi was 5 when he went though the Academy in Konoha. That was the youngest age someone could be ready that I knew of. So before that I would need way more skills than these.

But until I could actually move around enough to _get_ those skills, I would need to level up **[Meditation]** and **[Telepathy]**.

I would need to be really really subtle with **[Telepathy]** because bloodline users were killed in Kiri. I also need to acquire information about when I was born and general information about the world. Information about Kiri was ridiculously vague in Narutoverse so **[Telepathy]** was actually the perfect skill to have.

Next was the **[Status]** screen. The basic info about myself.

* * *

**Status**

**Name: Izumi Kawaguchi**

**Title: The Gamer**

**Level: 1**

**Exp: 0%**

**HP: 82/82 (HP regeneration: 0.8% per hour)**

**CP: 372/372 (CP regeneration: 4.9% per hour) [locked]**

**STR: 1**

**VIT: 8.2 (1+7.2)**

**DEX: 1**

**INT: 29**

**WIS: 49.1 (41+0.1)**

**LUK: 17**

**Status Points: 0**

* * *

Hm. It wasn't as terrible as I expected. And Wisdom was almost 50. There could be some kind of **[Natural Perk** ] from that, right? Or not.

But that was a thought for another time. So breakdown for HP and HP regen was VIT. Convenient but also annoying. It would have been nice if one of them increased with STR and DEX cause they were both super important to life as a ninja.

INT and VIT gave rise to Chakra and WIS governed the CP regen. So it was actually better to increase INT instead of WIS in general but again, I shouldn't be showing anything too special before I know more about the timeline and my family.

It doesn't say I have any other bloodline limits but who knows? They would count 'The Gamer' system as one and I had no interest in being a broodmare.

The regeneration was fine for a normal human being but I wouldn't survive if it took me 100 hours to actually fully heal. I would need VIT in 1000 to get full HP in an hour. Or sleep.

That…was possible. Maybe. But then my level would need to be really really high. Also, depends on how many status points I get per level. I should just assume I would get exp per missions and kills. Maybe not even missions. Who knows if there is a Quest system?

**Quest System locked until first Quest.**

What about Mini-map?

**Mini-map unlocked!**

**No explored area!**

It showed a dark screen with a speck of light in the center.

It was a little comical, to be honest. But that was most of the basics that I could think of. Now, I just need to upgrade **[Meditation]** skill to its maximum. There is no age or mention of the caste system that is so popular in Mist, so I would have to discover it as I go.

Then, I closed my eyes, removed all thoughts from my mind and just relaxed. My mind focused only on my body and the chakra swirling in it.

-x-

**[Telepathy] has leveled up!**

**[Telepathy] is now level 27!**

I opened my eyes as soon as the matron was gone. The matron kept changing because everyone believed that there was a ghost in the orphanage. The number of volunteers had decreased as well. The orphanage was always short-handed and I tried my best to keep out of everyone's way.

At the age of 4, I had leveled up a lot of my skills and gotten quite a few skills as well. That was the best part about being 'The Gamer'. You can only ever get better.

I got out of bed and got ready. Today would be an important day. First impressions mattered because that's how people remembered you by.

I walked and walked and walked and then I could run faster than ever. It was gamble to put so much into the **[Walk]** skill. When it became level 10, it upgraded into the skill **[Run]** which had much better benefits that I had expected.

* * *

**Run: Level 65 (Cost: 10 CP)**

You can run efficiently. You can now use chakra to run.

Increases VIT by 6.5

Increases DEX by 6.5

Chakra increases your running speed by 65%

* * *

The fact was as a child, I had gained passives that increased my base score permanently but in a way that was suitable subtle enough to not bring me to attention. So, okay, there were theories about a ghost but ninjas had come about to check and I even though I had unlocked my chakra by **[Meditation] Level 50** , it wasn't enough to suspect me. Why?

This was the bloody Mist.

When kids showed potential, they were thrown into the Academy…which brings me to my next problem. I made a miscalculation.

I was born of the lowest caste which gave me a classification. The classification system wasn't what was bad. It was the fact that I would be thrown in the most dangerous situations. The worst of missions. That could be tricky to handle. It was a high risk, high reward situation.

It wasn't really the best situation to handle so I brought up my Status screen with a frown on my face, wondering about the future.

* * *

**Status**

**Name: Izumi Kawaguchi**

**Title: The Gamer**

**Class: Low class civilian**

**Level: 1**

**Exp: 0%**

**HP: 147/147 (HP regeneration: 1.4% per hour)**

**CP: 467/350 (CP regeneration: 9.5% per hour)**

**STR: 1**

**VIT: 14.7 (1+7.2+6.5)**

**DEX: 7.5 (1+6.5)**

**INT: 32**

**WIS: 95 (41+54)**

**LUK: 17**

**Status Points: 0**

* * *

My INT increased while I read the books and understood the language, but I received no skill for it. It made me think there were silent skills or such that were hidden or that could not be accessed due to some reason or the other.

There was also my success with **[Meditation]** skill. It had evolved as well. Evolution gave rise to awesome skills it seemed. So what was the most important was 'time'.

And with the Academy, what I would start to get was the evolving part of my skill coming to play.

After level 20, **[Telepathy** ] became subtle. It became a little like genjutsu. If it was subtle enough, if I could direct it in a way that they thought it was their own thought process, she could survive.

Kiri was a place that prized physical skills above all. STR, VIT and DEX were the skills that would be trained the most in the Academy.

There was this skill that evolved from **[Meditation].**

* * *

**Awareness: Level 54**

You have a distinct awareness of the people around you as you are aware of yourself.

Skills can be used simultaneously

Increases Wisdom by 54

Area of Awareness is 540m around you

* * *

I also got a **[Natural Perk]** due to WIS reaching 50. That was actually pretty interesting.

* * *

**Genius: Lv MAX**

You can now be called a 'genius'. You can solve problems, observe your surroundings and notice things that may be invisible to people around you.

* * *

The game was going to affect the way I thought soon. Or maybe it already had. I was pretty sure I was going to get a superiority complex with the way it was going.

I remembered Pein and shuddered. As long as it wasn't a God Complex, it would be okay… I hope.

With a steadying breath, I entered the Academy which would decide my future.

* * *

**Physical Resistance: Level 33**

**Charisma: Level 37**

**Breathing:** **Level 100**

**Telepathy: Level 27**

**Run: Level 65**

**Awareness: Level 54**


	2. Academy Initiate 1 (Arc 1)

Academy…was a bit different from what I had been expecting. I kept expecting stuff that happened in Konoha to happen in Kiri. Abet more harsh. But it wasn't like that at all.

"Again!" The instructor screamed in the face a poor Academy student.

It was only the first day, and the class was filled with low class civilians. The age range was from 4 to 14. I was the one unfortunate enough to be the youngest, but the oldest didn't look much better either.

Malnutrition, I guessed considered how terrible he looked. The village didn't have much money to feed people. Every Academy Student had the same standard meal provided to them by their matron. The parents were either killed or separated from kids who had enough potential to be shinobi.

The nutritional requirements couldn't be met for a growing boy who was also studying to be a ninja. It just wasn't enough.

The matron in my orphanage were really nice to me. I just had to do small things for them and the reputation gains inflated and so my skills grew and the reputation inflated more. My **[Cooking]** skill was slowly but steadily climbing as the matrons learnt to trust my cooking skills. It was a vicious circle of self gain. Or not so vicious.

But the Academy was a different matter altogether. As long as you had chakra, you would be put in class. There was no pre-Academy test, no pre-Genin test. If the Instructor wanted you to stay in class, you would, and if they wanted you to be a genin, so you would. There was no other choice.

They found the affinity I had with chakra and the fact I already _unlocked_ it too? They were probably screaming 'SCORE' from the top of their lungs while they put me in the Academy. Anyone could introduce new students in the Academy and if they did well, you would get rewards, if they didn't you would be punished for the waste of resources.

When the lucky shinobi found me, I was still in the infantile stages of practicing **[Awareness]** skill which apparently alerted all nearby ninjas to the use of chakra. The guy was praising his lucky stars for finding a prodigy, and one so eager at that. I had 'friendly' reputation with that ninja for being smart but not too smart, and for being nice enough without being an idiot.

The Instructor took it a little easy on me, considering that there were things I _physically_ could not do. So he didn't yell in my face too much, neither did he throw any kunai at me to dodge.

I was handed a pair of kunai and shuriken the moment I walked in, and that was it. It was mine. Whatever else I found was mine. If I beat another student and got more, it was mine. If I got mine stolen, I would never get any back. It was a kill or be killed situation from the start to prepare for the 'real world'.

The other kids saw my young age and they started eyeing me. There was no theory class because what would we need of it? We were the lowest class. So no one expected us to survive. We were supposed to be the cannon fodder. The instructors said so.

They allowed students to kill other students if necessary but there would be strict punishment if there was any permanent injury like a loss of limb because they didn't want to pay for medical fees. They probably would end up killing the kid themselves unless the kid was skilled.

We were the scum of the Earth who would grow by feeding on each other. And I was thrown into this pit of snakes so they could find out whose poison was the strongest.

"Again!"

At that moment, we were learning how to show shuriken.

Let me emphasis the absurdness of that sentence. We were learning to throw shuriken on the first day. Before we got used to the weight, or to how to hold it. Before we even held it for more than 30 minutes. It was crazy.

I was doing so badly I hadn't even gotten a skill yet. Which was terrible. My hand already had lacerations from the shuriken and even though the instructor knew it, he did nothing. He kept yelling for us to keep going.

The pain would have made me cry, if I hadn't spent hours running until my legs were noodles and I kept going because I was _almost there,_ the next level within reaching distance. I would have cried if I hadn't intentionally hurt myself to increase **[Physical Resistance].**

I had leveled up that skill for this very reason. I needed to keep going even when I was in pain. **[Gamer's Body]** didn't do much, but it decreased the pain I felt from injuries, and **[Physical Resistance]** would decrease the wounds. Together, they would help me get through this life.

Blood dripped from my hand drop by drop. I wasn't the only one who cut themselves but I could feel the instructor's eyes boring into my back. He was still screaming at everyone else, but he still kept an eye on me. I smirked, my bob cut hair covered it from his view and I kept throwing with different ways to hold it. Hoping one of them would trigger a skill for me.

"That's enough." Another voice interrupted the training. No one stopped. No one even looked over at who spoke. The Instructor had beaten obedience into all of us in the half hour he had with us. Even I didn't dare to look for fear of punishment.

"Stop." It was the Insttuctor's command that made all the students stop. All of us looked over at the new person. He was shorter than the Instructor but bulkier. His eyes looked as cold as ice. His voice was misleading. It had been softer but when you fit the voice with the face, it came to a terrifying result. He looked like he could kill Instructor in a blink of an eye. He looked like he could kill _all_ of us in a blink of an eye.

He was also frowning at the Instructor.

"I apologize, sir! I will make sure they remember all their superior officers! Sir!" We watched wide eyed as the Instructor, the demon in everyone's fantasy practically begged for another chance.

"I see," was all the newest person bothered to give. His eyes scanned over everyone before stopping on one of the older children.

"You there!" The child's eye widened in fear.

"Y-Yes sir!" He squeaked out. The man gave no other reaction.

"He will do this time." He nodded at the Instructor and walked out. The Instructor glared at the boy until he moved his feet. When they were in touching distance, he grabbed the child's arm, almost wrenching it out.

"Do as he says, boy, or you won't live past this day." He hissed out before shoving the boy out. He looked back once, fear blooming in his eyes but no one moved. The door closed on his despairing expression. None of us ever saw the boy again.

I focused on the Instructor who had already dismissed the boy, but he had an air of irritation and he expressed that by taking it out on us. I would have thought it was because of that man shaming the Instructor, was it not for something nagging at me that that wasn't it. The Instructor looked hostile to that _man_. The Instructor didn't trust him.

Now I needed to know if that man was an enemy for me or not. And if he was, I needed to avoid him like crazy.

* * *

**You have trusted your instincts! You have unlocked a new skill!**

**Instinct: Level 1**

Every ninja has a sixth sense that tells them where the danger lies and if they need to duck at any random point in their life! You can judge situations based on your level.

* * *

I silently dismissed the notification, amused that the game had found a way to reinforce my gut instincts. I really did have a hand in the creation of this game…

After that, we were told that everyone was above us. If someone ever commanded us to do something, we would do it or we would die. He also threw in information about the location of the library and that it was open all night. General information could be found there but if anyone wanted to give information to a spy from there, they were out of luck because there was _no_ valuable information.

But that in itself, was a gold mine for me. I needed to read. To keep reading until my INT increased. If my INT increased, so would my chakra pool.

Stronger. Stronger. **Stronger.**

More and more strength to get through life. To kill people. To either leave this village or own it.

Throughout the month, the Instuctor kept an eye on me. On the second day, he actually showed us how to throw shuriken because everyone who tried for the first time was terrible at it. The older students kept to themselves. They didn't talk to the younger students, they didn't talk to each other, they just went on with their lives with a skeletal expression. It was eerie.

To the people who already lost their weapons… Well, they couldn't participate obviously. They couldn't learn a single skill. But in the first week, I got two skills because of all that happened.

* * *

**Projectile: Level 4**

Anything can be thrown. Now you have the ability to throw things with a certain level of accuracy.

-Accuracy at 40%

-Backlash of any kind is less by 40%

**Stealth: Level 1**

You can sneak away from people you dislike, or wish to hide from.

-People cannot sense you 1% of the time

-Your movement is slowed by 99%

* * *

They were really good skills considering they were in percentile format. But unless I leveled them all up to MAX Level, it wasn't 100% safe to use out in the field. But necessity would make me a master of it sooner or later.

And because of the brilliance that was **[Inventory]** , even when I was found, they still couldn't find my weapons. They punched me, kicked me but in the end, they were forced to leave me alone. The funny thing was…even with those bullies, I had 'friendly' reputation.

They kept on searching for me all weeklong, thankfully, increasing my **[Stealth]** to level 10 and each time they found me, they let me go with less beating than the last time. Each time my reputation with them would increase even though they got frustrated with my rising skill.

There was an addition that appeared with **[Stealth]** leveling to 10.

* * *

**Stealth: Level 10**

You can sneak away from people you dislike, or wish to hide from. Uses of chakra can now be hidden.

-People cannot sense you 10% of the time

-Your movement is slowed by 90%

* * *

It was surprising that even _chakra_ could be hidden like that. Or maybe it couldn't but only I could? There were a lot of things unique only to me because of Gamer System. Like chakra control.

I only use as much as required for the technique. I don't waste chakra. At all. Also, I can't fail to use a technique I already know, and as I continue using it, my skill will increase so it's even more effective than before.

Just the fact that even if I sleep a month away, my skills won't become rusty is a big thing. So many ninjas die because of a 'bad day' or because they couldn't perform like they always do.

Every day for a week I kept to the same routine. Self discipline wasn't exactly what I was known for in my last life, but here, training was addicting. Looking at the stats, was addicting. Knowing that you were getting better with every step, was addicting.

After Academy finished, I would run back to the matron and then nag her to let me cook. Let me say, I could already make better food than her because she always had limited amount of vegetables and meat to feed all of us and because of my **[Cooking]** skill, food that was ordinary would taste delicious every time I made it. I never put in any spices, I just used the cooking basics that I knew of and _viola!_ It was amazing.

Everyone else already considered me a goddess of food simply because my **[Cooking]** skill. The other kids, even the ones older than me would run around calling me 'Izumi-nee'. It was adorable. The ones in the same class were actually more friendly with me than each other.

The more these people ate my food, the more my reputation increased. I was at 'honoured' reputation with every one of them. And the matron was slowly inching to 'exalted'. It was crazy. Just by steadily cooking food for them, I could have enough power to order them to go against the freaking _Kage_ of the Village.

The rest of the Village wasn't that bad. The Instructor was blunt and cruel but he had limits, even though he took the cruelty too far. Kiri was a scary place, no doubt, but if you were strong…you had a lot to gain as well. As long as I became a ninja, the civilians would lose power to bother me. Heck, ninjas would lose power to bother me to a certain extent too!

That man who came to the Academy and picked that kid couldn't do it to anyone who was a shinobi. To kill other shinobi, you needed the order of the Mizukage, but Academy was mostly fair game.

The man had to have some amount of influence with the Mizukage, and he could only 'disappear' people who were low class civilians.

Anyway, after I cooked, which I now did everyday because I was an Academy Student now, and thus 'responsible' enough, I trained for a few hours.

Mostly, I ran, to increase my **[Run]** skill, but I also practiced **[Projectile]**. I could increase the skill as long as I was throwing something. Anything. It could be a ball of paper, even. Or rocks. Since I didn't want my weapons to degrade and break before I even became genin, so I used rocks.

I reached level 5 in it before it stopped leveling. I could hit the target with every throw. After trying to level it for one day to no avail, I realized what the problem was. I needed moving targets. So I would throw on rock high up, then hit it with another as it came down. Funny enough, it actually ended up increasing my STR.

Then after training, I went to the library, the place of hidden treasures.

The library was, firstly, a Kiri version of Information Centre. A scary and intimidating version. The farther you went, the more information you would have, and needless to say, the library was jealously guarded.

Academy Student was only allowed on the ground floor. The first time had been a surprise but the chunin on duty had taken the time to explain it to me. I had to request a library card from any Academy teacher and as I went up in rank, I would have to go to Mizukage Tower and update it every time.

I had asked Instructor for a library card after class ended, which was apparently enough to shift my reputation to 'friendly' with him. Crazy, but I didn't focus on it too much because it was obvious why. He liked what he saw in me.

He had given me a card and sent me on my way to the library. I took vicious vicious advantage of the 24 hour open rule. The Gamer erased a certain level of exhaustion and I had already learnt to stay awake for a few nights in a row trying to max out **[Meditation]** then **[Awareness]**.

I stayed up one night in the library studying and leveling **[Awareness]** and therefore, **[Stealth]** that tried to hide my chakra from the Anbu, and the next night I would sleep. In just a week of studying, my INT stat and therefore my chakra pool had increased.

* * *

**Status**

**Name: Izumi Kawaguchi**

**Title: The Gamer**

**Class: Low class civilian**

**Level: 1**

**Exp: 0%**

**HP: 147/147 (HP regeneration: 1.4% per hour)**

**CP: 517/517 (CP regeneration: 9.5% per hour)**

**STR: 3**

**VIT: 14.7 (1+7.2+6.5)**

**DEX: 7.5 (1+6.5)**

**INT: 37**

**WIS: 95 (41+54)**

**LUK: 17**

**Status Points: 0**

* * *

After the first week, we started conditioning. And there, my pitiful strength stat embarrassed me. 1 was the strength of an infant. My STR was 3. It was shameful. I couldn't even do a single push-up.

The Instructor had high hopes and ended up being disappointed in me. I literally feel the disappointment while I pushed myself to actually finish doing push-ups.

After the first humiliating day, I trained all night instead of going to the library. I didn't even train my **[Run]** or **[Projectile]** skill. All I did was strength training until I felt like my arms would break and I still pushed myself to complete a set, then another.

I was motivated like crazy and because of The Gamer which meant I didn't have to always condition my body to maintain my physical stats, I could go crazy. I could do enough strength training to break down my muscles, heal in 10 minutes due to Gamer's Body and be back at it soon after.

Chakra could maintain muscles for a certain amount of time, but it always ended up on conditioning that you had to do at least once a week to maintain your physique.

But like Gai and Lee, if you trained every day monstrously, you could become a beast. Adding weights on top of all that training? No wonder Gai almost destroyed Madara. But that kind of training wasn't possible without absolute knowledge about the body. The pin point peak where your body could reach without harming himself? Perfection. Not to mention the fearlessness you had to express to take yourself to the brink of your limit.

Gai was crazy. He was amazing. They only reason I could train anywhere close to something like that, is because of Gamer's Body that negated damage from training and turned everything into skill points.

The next day, everyone called my first day weakness a fluke and I successfully apologized for training to the point of self-sabotage, earning a new skill due to the successful lie by omission.

* * *

**Misinform: Level 1**

You can now successfully give or portray false information or impression to your audience.

-Success chance 10%

* * *

I dismissed it, feeling uncomfortable. I was never good with lies. In my last life, I was big on honesty. I was good at detecting dishonesty and it made me unable trust even basic information if I knew someone had actually lied for some reason or the other.

Of course, I had forgotten. The ninja world traded in misinformation and half-truths. I would have had to learn it eventually considering a War was imminent and more than that, a civil war was going to descend on our heads soon.

The third week was a little different from the first two weeks. Where we had mostly focused on one thing or the other, the third week consisted of three things- conditioning, theory and weapons.

Every day in the morning, we had conditioning and after cool down, we would have a bit of theory about the structure of our Village. The names of famous figures like all the Seven Swordsmen to ever be, even the current ones and the Kages or any individual who had distinguished themselves due to their skill with ninjutsu or sword.

The most famous figures in the Village were, of course, the Seven Swordsmen. Seven S ranked shinobi that Kiri boasted was its unfaltering pride. Along with its two jinchuriki, but that wasn't really told to Academy Students. Or genins, for the matter.

After theory class, we were back to weapon throwing. He nodded in satisfaction when I hit all ten targets in the dead center red dot inside the larger yellow central one. A lot of the students other than me had been practicing as well and their accuracy showed it.

Instructor leveled up half of the students to throwing at moving targets. My **[Projectile]** skill was at 6. The leveling had slowed epically after level 5 but I was very close to a level up. I knew it. So I wasn't surprised when midway through throwing at targets my skill leveled and I hit almost every target in the center, or close to it.

We were then showed to a course that we would have to attempt once a day and hit all the targets that moved in and out of view randomly. There were, of course, different levels for different skill level.

The first student who attempted it, fell into a pit he lingered too long at while trying to throw kunai. Instructor reluctantly fetched him when his desperate screams when up by a pitch.

The second person was an older student. She smirked, obviously having been through the course once before. She went through the course, managing to throw her weapons at the targets before a target came up at her mid-jump and they collided. She glared at the ground, unable to glare at the Instructor.

The next one was actually from my orphanage and I smiled at him encouragingly. He gulped nervously before bravely facing the course. He was surprisingly good actually. She went through the names of the kids there before coming up with it.

Haru Matsura.

He managed the first pit, hit the targets, jumped and rolled under the incoming target and threw a kunai backward before he kept going and then activated two traps. The first pushed him into the path of the second. He had to throw his last kunai to deflect two shuriken coming at him. Without any more weapons at hand, he also failed his first attempt.

I gave him a subtle thumbs-up. He was better than me at throwing weapons. That was amazing, considering he didn't have a skill that could make him improve just by repeating the same action a million times.

He smiled back shyly before going to stand with the people who were done. There were two more people before me. The one before me actually managed to go across the whole obstacle course in the first go. He was a senior student as well.

I started running as soon as he was clear of the course. The Instructor didn't like to keep telling people to start already. We were to judge when to start and do it ourselves. Instructor was there to observe our performance.

The moment I landed on the first pit, I jumped and it was obviously not a moment too late because the pit opened up a little too fast. But I didn't have time to glare at Instructor.

The targets spun as it appeared and I had to throw my shuriken mid-jump, hoping it was enough. I didn't have enough time to tuck and roll so I put faith in my hard work and punched through target in front of my face with a kunai in my hand.

The shattered pieces cut my cheek and closed one eye to prevent any pieces from entering my eye. From memory, I made a long jump crossing the two traps on the ground. I slid to the left to avoid a blade that dropped from nowhere to cleave me in two.

I spotted the last target from the corner of my eye and a wire speeding horizontally towards me. I threw my kunai and rolled under the wire, avoiding the second trap just as it opened up under the cleaving blade.

The pit was in a perfect place if a student wasn't able to avoid the blade, the Instructor could open up the pit so they wouldn't die.

That was the supposed end of the course completed by the previous student, but I was a little wary because of the increased speed for me and the spinning targets. But nothing happened so I went back and collected the three weapons.

Both of my shuriken had landed vertically dead center of the spinning target and I took satisfaction in that. Even with the spinning, if you aimed for the dead center the rotation wouldn't knock it off course. But it was still lucky to land so perfectly specially because I hadn't maxed out **[Projectile]** yet.

My last target was a little off, but it was still on the target. Which I considered a win because I had just barely seen it. When I went back, I nodded encouragingly at the other student who was from the same orphanage as me and he gave a confident but hollow grin.

The first day I thought this obstacle course was the last thing we had to do, but after everyone completed the course in one piece, Instructor sat us down and made us take our weapons.

Every single student was taught to take care of their weapons. If anyone was unable to do it, he sneered but he still sat down with that person to show them how to do it slowly and reverently. He nodded when he saw me and I actually respected the man for being so diligent about taking care of weapons.

Of course, what was I thinking? I was in Kiri. It was _known_ for its famous weapons. Of course, they knew how to take care of their own weapons. They made it.

That makes you think about the shinobi being weapon theory, right? But Kiri was a little like how the Ninja World was. They had successfully re-created the view of the world down into a Village.

It tells a person a lot about what the people thought when they created the Villages. There were five Major Villages made into the what the Kage thought the Village should be.

Hashirama Senju obviously wanted the children to have a peaceful childhood.

But on the opposite hand, the First Mizukage thought the Village would represent the way of the World. Maybe this kind of ruthless view was why Konoha was called the most peaceful and kind village of all the Major Five.

But I was grateful that I was born in Kiri than Konoha. When you separate the kindness from the cruelty, the depths of both were unimaginable. It was better for it to be more open like all the other villages were.

I understood why Tobirama created their Anbu for the darker part of shinobi life and why he may have believed it would succeed. That was because he was ignorant.

Even he must have wanted to nurture the hope that was the Village. So he separated the good from the bad, and his legacy, Sarutobi and Danzo did the same to a much greater extent.

In my previous life, the UN held all the power but also not really. The US was the strongest power and it swayed the views of the world as it wished. And part of that was what needed to happen.

I don't know what happened after the story of Naruto other than a vague idea that he married Hinata and had kids but I knew one thing for certain.

There were _no_ major changes and with the way the world was going, they Kage would forget the Forth War and because of differences might start fighting again, and based on the bad feeling I had, that was probably **[Instinct]** warning me.

That was unacceptable.

I had the knowledge of a World that was mostly peace other than internal strife. I needed to use that to create a better place.

* * *

**Quest System unlocked!**

**Quest created!**

**A World of Peace!**

Create a workable system based on your knowledge that would lead the Elemental Nations into Peace.

-Create a Council-

-Amend Laws-

-De-militarization-

-Profession changes for the next generation-

**Reward- Title 'Creator of the New World' , Experience "Peace" , Another chance at Reincarnation possible.**

**Failure- The Elemental Nations will fall into War after your existence is gone, Another chance at Reincarnation might be possible.**

* * *

I gaped at the screen.

* * *

_**Changes to skills** _

**Cooking: Level 41 - 44**

**Run: Level 65 - 70**

**Stealth: Level 15**

**Projectile: Level 7**

**Instinct: Level 1**

**Awareness: Level 54 - 56**

**Misinform: Level 1**


	3. Academy Initiate 2 (Arc 1)

The flicker of white caught his attention the moment it appeared in the room. He waited until all of them stood in front of him grimly, like _he_ was the Shinigami himself. Some, though, they knew better. The ones who had already been through the part of hell that Kiri created for itself. Now, he had to lead the naïve youth again until they, too, learnt why the world outside was Hell.

There were 14 children before him, one of which was the girl who looked like a ghost. Pale skin that didn't receive enough sunlight, glowing- like the waning light of the moon- in the artificial light of the classroom.

White hair that didn't even reach her shoulders, cheeks still chubby with fat, eyes the colour of water that surrounded them on all sides. He would have sighed and kicked her out on the first day if she had started crying like he thought she would. It was unfortunate that she hadn't.

There was no place for a child on the battlefield. And yet, he couldn't find a reason to kick her out yet. She was hardworking and new to many things in the life of a shinobi. The workstation must have seen that optimism and tried to keep her locked away, tried to keep her that innocent. They always tried to be contradictory for absolutely no reason.

The life of a shinobi is never easy and they should have known that. Instead of hardening the children for their future, they babied the ones with the most potential, ruining them until a skilled shinobi picked them or they died before ever fulfilling their potential. What he hated more than anything was unfulfilled potential, and yet…

He knew that this girl needed to be reported on. That he needed to tell the one of Seven Swordsmen about the future potential.

Already he could see how she would be in the future, white long hair bathed with blood, eyes would be as blue and as hard as a crystal, lips upturned in a snarl, bloodlust burning in her eyes. He mentally shook the vision away. There was no guarantee that she would even survive her next mission.

Low class civilians were cannon fodder. They were thrown at the worst of missions, the ones which had no option but to see you dead. The enemy would kill you, or your own teammate would. With looks as recognizable as that? There was almost a 100% chance that she would end up killed by her own comrades, and she would never expect that until a kunai was buried inside her chest.

She turned and beamed at a boy who looked like he would fall over, flustered, from that little bit of attention. He gave her a small hesitant smile in return. That boy already understood more about the real world than she did.

But if there was one thing that stood out about her regardless of her bright innocence so easy to see, it would be her learning curve. Already she was better than most of her classmates at kunai and shuriken throwing. Her usage of chakra was also better than most chunin. She had absolutely perfect chakra control. The kind of precision he had never seen in an untrained civilian before.

Though he would prefer it if she stopped using her chakra in the library. Already there was talk in Anbu about the white-haired civilian who was learning to be a sensor.

She would be scooped up by Anbu before she even left the Academy if she kept going on like that. Already there had been basic background investigations done before her first night in the library was over.

He had seen it, of course. It was his jurisdiction considering she was his student. Her parents had seen her unfamiliar white hair and had been afraid. The fear of unknown and the promise of certain food driving them to giving her up before the first month was even over. They had absolutely _no_ contact with her and she was under the impression that they were dead. Better to cultivate that.

If she really needed to be broken, they could make plans to send her to kill her parents. A test of loyalty to enter Anbu, as well. Her competence in the shinobi arts would serve the Mizukage well after she got more real life experience.

The girl turned towards him and a brief look of happiness flickered on her face, the smallest of smiles appearing. A small dark pit formed in his stomach and he had to look away unwilling to name the heavy feeling forming and yet, unwilling to give up the light in her eyes either.

 _What a child_ , he thought, closing his eyes briefly.

Unknown to him, a small crystalline looking square, the same colour as her eyes, popped up in front of her.

**Your reputation with the Instructor has increased by 1 level! You are now 'friendly'!**

* * *

Two months passed slowly and the fear of Instructor abated in everyone little by little. How long could someone keep up a constant state of alertness, after all? And slowly, everyone got used to being competent at what they learnt or give up totally. They struggled and climbed their way up as well.

People stopped trying to pick on me because of my age. People learnt that I was good at the things I did. They spent a long time on the first level of the obstacle course and they watched as I breezed through levels every week. They watched me learn skills in front of them. They watched and watched and watched.

But some…some learnt. The angry senior who had become too arrogant in the course the first time, who pushed herself farther and farther and started to get bitter when she couldn't reach higher faster. I understood how she felt.

In my previous life, even I had felt that. There was always going to be someone better than you no matter what you did. There was someone kinder, someone richer, someone more skilled, someone more experienced.

But because I knew that, I wanted to overtake that bitterness as well. It might have been futile to try, but she was the only other female in the whole class. A class of 14 and only two were females. I wanted her to call me a friend.

Aside from her, there was Haru, who learnt well too. I suspected that someone else taught him but that was an odd thought as well. Who would take a low class civilian under their wing? Everyone who wasn't a shinobi sneered down as us. Even as shinobi, there was a strict line dividing everyone else and shinobi who were of lower birth.

And yet. And yet, he continued to grow and flourish. After the Academy, he would have an apprenticeship offer waiting for him. Maybe he would grow into a strong shinobi one day. It was a nice hope-a nice dream. But no one could tell the future. No one could say what could happen. But still, it was a nice dream to have.

The second month started with a week of learning about chakra and its properties. Some, I already knew. Some, I didn't. They taught the things that were most common and hinted at the things that weren't. I spent more nights at the library, studying tirelessly to earn more knowledge and more INT to go with it.

And sometimes, I went to that girl. The angry girl. She screamed the first time. Then the second time. And the third time. But the fourth time, she didn't. She just looked exhausted.

We just sat together and spent that time doing nothing. It was probably a waste to do so when I could have trained, but there was also a part of me that was civilian girl who used to feed street dogs, who gave starving people food, and who sat and cried at the misery in the world from my rooftop.

The world of Naruto…was a terrible place. And yet, there were people who could have become so much _more_ than a killer for hire. There were definitely a lot of people who wanted to stop fighting. Especially after centuries of it. They wouldn't feel the desire for war that people in my previous life felt. Not for years. But by then…was it possible?

I thought about that Quest. It wasn't impossible, maybe. Or maybe it wasn't impossible for _me_. The Gamer was a power that had no opposition. You got good, or you got killed. There was no way to live an average life.

The world of Naruto wrenched my heart like nothing else. The end of Naruto was so perfect. So beautiful. And yet, there would be more fights after that?

That was a little bitter, that the capacity for both good and harm in humans, was immense, was something I had heard much, much before my first death, but something like that…how could people keep going on fighting like that?

I shook my unpleasant thoughts away. I get lost in my head too often for it to be good for me. I needed to concentrate on my lessons instead.

There was another thing I learnt that was different between me and everyone else.

Chakra pool could be grown by using as much of it as you safely could and then resting. If someone kept doing it, especially as a child, they would get a lot of chakra in a short period of time. It wasn't safe if the children were too young but everyone in class other than me could safely do it.

That was, perhaps the only reason Instructor hadn't realized how odd I was. My chakra pool couldn't be grown using that method. Only my VIT and INT stats could do that.

That…would be a problem. But for some time yet.

I don't need a Master, I just need time and experience. A Master is someone who chooses to teach you and pass on their abilities, and because of that, they determine your growth. But a student, when they defeat or kill their Master, means they surpassed their Master. They can take the Master's rank, possessions and anything else.

So why? Why did Masters even decided to teach anyone if there was such a big threat to their _own_ lives, if they did?

The schooling system in Mist was odd, but it also worked. There were different classes for different casts. But the Graduation Exam was the same no matter where. You had to kill your classmate. No one spoke about it, even the older kids, who had survived it somehow.

So no one would know of it other than overhearing a shinobi- really hard to do- or a graduate- relatively easier- or having outside information- like me.

It was why I realized, Zabuza was quite fearsome. He didn't just kill a _class_ , he killed one of the skilled classes. The ones who weren't low-born. If he hadn't, it would never have been a big enough issue. That was brave.

If one of the Swordsmen hadn't taken an interest in him, he would have been pulled in Anbu and probably died on one of those suicidal missions. He was fearsome because he did it with _none_ of the intensive training he would have received in the Academy.

The Graduation Exam was watched by everyone who was willing to take a student, which included some of the Seven Swordsmen. It was a BIG thing. The Seven Swordsmen were all S-ranked and were commanders of their own battalions.

They were the people that even jonin answer to. And the Swords itself were given to the person who managed to defeat or kill the Swordsmen.

The cultural setting of celebrities was already formed in Kiri. It was amusing to see the way people would fall over themselves to please the Swordsmen. If anyone managed to get the chance to be their apprentice…they would, by default, have only two superiors. Their Master, and the Mizukage. Not counting Anbu because that was practically a totally different division altogether.

That said, I did _not_ want to have a Master. I would be monitored heavily if that happened and that was something I did _not_ want to make happen.

Still, that aside, I looked at my right, noticing my senior was dozing off. Already my reputation with her was inching higher. It was funny how _not_ talking here was gaining me more reputation than talking would.

I lay back, and anyone who looked at me would see me enjoying cloud-watching. I silently called up my **[Reputation]** tab. It showed me the reputations of different factions, but what bothered me the most was the '?' symbols all over the place.

* * *

**Reputation:**

Reputation System classifies what certain factions feel about you. For certain factions, you must have direct contact with, or predict correctly to be shown on your screen.

Reputation starts at **Neutral** with all factions and as you act, and/or ally with certain factions, you reputation increases or decreases.

**Hated-} Hostile-} Unfriendly-} Neutral-} Friendly-} Honored-} Revered-} Exalted**

**Kirigakure** **:** **Neutral**

**Instructor: Friendly**

**Recruitor Kazuki: Friendly**

**Haru Matsura: Honored**

**?: ?**

**Anbu: ?**

**Workstation 4: Revered**

**Class 3: Friendly**

**Iwagakure:** **Neutral**

**Konohagakure:** **Neutral**

**Kumogakure:** **Neutral**

**Sunagakure:** **Neutral**

* * *

' **Workstation 4'** was easy enough to understand. It was the orphanage where I grew up. But that Anbu and a certain unknown faction knew about me, was irritating. Of course, I couldn't go totally unknown, but why did people have to _pay attention_.

Annoying, but there was nothing to be done. I had to continue doing what I was. If I couldn't grind up my skills before I was thrown at missions, life would be hard. As in, I would be dead instead.

**[Instinct] has leveled up!**

**[Instinct] is now level 2!**

I rolled my eyes in response.

 _Yes, thank you for the clarification_.

This was one of the few lazy days I allowed myself. I lazily checked my **[Status]**. The stats were rising pretty fast considering I actually loved to read, and exercising was always fun cause of all the dopamine release.

There was also many other changes. I smirked as my **[Status]** unfurled in front of me.

* * *

**Status**

**Name: Izumi Kawaguchi**

**Title: The Gamer**

**Class: Academy Student (low class civilian)**

**Level: 1**

**Exp: 0%**

**HP: 344/344 (HP regeneration: 3.4% per hour)**

**CP: 824/824 (CP regeneration: 11.5% per hour)**

**STR: 23**

**VIT: 34.4 (17+10+7.4)**

**DEX: 23.4 (16+7.4)**

**INT: 48**

**WIS: 115 (44+71)**

**LUK: 18**

**Status Points: 0**

* * *

I also had gained another **[Natural Perk]** because of the awesomeness that was my ability. Also because Wisdom was pushed over 100.

* * *

**Gamer Eyes:**

This is the passive ability that lets you see the title, HP and CP of a person. It also allows you to see the System-assigned level in comparison to your level. It also lets you see if any **[Buff]** or **[Debuff]** is applied.

It is a toggle-able ability.

ON/ **OFF**.

* * *

In a little while, INT would be pushed over 50 and I would get another **[Natural Perk].** They all seemed like they were passive abilities, which was a blessing. If I was the kind of Gamer with too many active skills, I would actually be very confused. Or not. I did have INT and WIS which actually helped my ability to remember and understand better.

The next day, I went to the library instead of bothering the senior again. She needed a break after the last few days.

The library was a place which had more books than anyone would even think of. I just had access to the Academy section, but even that satisfied me.

It had a huge variety of books, from Medicine to Astronomy, from History and Basic Code Breaking. It had different books about the same thing with a different perspective. There were books about the formation of the Village. About famous figures in other Villages and also a little about well known things about my own Village too.

If a spy really did read so many books, they might catch what I was getting to. There were secrets in the library too. Subconsciously, I had been breaking it down, trying to understand what felt odd, until I realized what was staring in my face.

The books were arranged in a specific way, forming a code. I didn't decode it. I didn't look at it more than I had to. There had to be someone watching because of this, and so I looked at it and then ignored it.

But when I reached my bed, I recreated it in my mind and tried to decode it then. If it was a week before, I would have tried to decode it in the library but with the leveling of **[Awareness]** and **[Stealth]** , I realized that there were very well hidden people there.

_Anbu._

That was how Anbu faction knew of me. They were in the library already. They had probably sensed me training my **[Awareness]** and because of **[Stealth]** leveling up, sometimes, they didn't realize either how strong the chakra was, or they completely missed it.

No wonder **[Stealth]** was leveling so easily. It was trying to compete with the senses of Anbu. But because they already knew of my habits, I couldn't stop. I didn't want to stop. It was also an amazing way to level up that skill.

 **[Telepathy]** was lagging behind now. I didn't use the skill often enough and using it on anyone strong or more than once might mean I would get caught. Bloodline limits were still considered strong but after a few years, it would be hated. There was no way I could reveal it.

The second month passed too. There was a sense of excitement as the third month began. The seniors actually looked excited, even _her._ When the theory began, I realized why.

They were teaching about _swords._

I had already read some books about it before because that's what you _do_. I read about how it was made, how the Legendary Swords were made by the most famous Swordsmith in the World. They sent assassins after him. There were _stories_. Many, many wonderful stories.

'The Hidden Eighth' was a story everyone had heard at least once. It said how there was another Legendary Sword hidden somewhere in Kiri but no one knew where it was. Based on that, there were stories about a prince stumbling over it in his quest to win over his beloved and how he fought a dragon but was gravely injured, making his beloved promise to return the Sword from whence it came.

It was romantic but most of the ninja population believed it to be untrue even as they wished for a Legendary Sword to fall in their hands.

Of course it was untrue. Why would a famous blacksmith hide the sword in the first place? Even if they did, they would only know blacksmithing, they couldn't possibly gain some kind of skill that would let them hide from a whole Village.

So. It was impossible for it to actually exist. But it was still a thrilling prospect for all shinobi of Kiri to understand.

For one week, we learnt about the creation of swords, of the best metals found in the Land of Iron about the Second best in Kiri. Somehow. Considering the whole place was an island.

There were different theories about the method of creation of sentient swords. But it was a universal fact that the blacksmiths in Kiri was unmatched. Even the ones in Iron couldn't compare.

It was a shame I had no interest in swords though. I could have become some kind of legendary wielder, but I held no interest in swords.

Of course, that was why I gained a weapon skill because of gaining a sword.

* * *

**Weapon Handling: Level 1**

You can use weapons in your hand to defend, attack or hold skillfully.

-Possible chakra usage 0%

-Passively increases DEX by 0.1

* * *

It actually reminded me that we hadn't yet learnt how to use handle kunai and use it to fight. We only learnt how to throw it, which was probably deemed more important that actually learning how to use it in a fight where we will be terribly out-skilled.

Made sense when I thought about it, but it was a little odd that I was receiving a skill like this _now_ instead of ages ago.

From the moment we started working on swords, everyone was eager to learn. Instructor warned us about chopping other people's hands off while we were handed swords.

As in, actual metal swords. There were no practice swords for us. If we chopped something off, bad luck. I actually came close on the first day but I managed to avoid it because I instinctively shifted away before I even knew for certain there was something.

The boy who almost cut my arm off was one of the three who tried to bully me. He grimaced, trying to hold his sword more steadily.

He nodded once and that was that. No apologies, nothing. After all, what would an apology solve? Either do it, or don't.

I wasn't sure if I liked the thought process of the people here or not. They were so much more practical, but so ruthless too. I clutched at my own tiny half used sword, probably from one of the other classes.

It was heavy. I could hold it because my STR was high enough, but other people had problem holding it. A lot of them were using chakra to hold it better. Some were a little too big or a little smaller for them, but they managed to keep holding it.

With new ownership of swords, we were then taught how to hold it, care for it, and finally how to use it. There was so much in it that it made my head spin. We were taught about swords until we could look at one and tell if its quality, and how long it would take to break.

We were taught about its brittleness, and somehow we went into the field of chemistry, talking about metals, their properties, how much heat or cold it could take. So much information about swords.

I reluctantly read about it, but when Instructor spoke so passionately about it, it wasn't hard to get some sort of interest in it too. I think we got more information than we needed but no one really protested.

Haru was, by far, the best at kenjutsu. The seniors were good, but Haru? There was something about the way he moved with a sword in his hand. It wasn't obvious at first. But as the days went by and we learnt the Kirigakure Sword Style, it became more and more apparent.

I was good with books, I had a decent learning curve. I could be called a genius. But Haru? He was pure talent. He moved like he was gliding through water.

Haru, as I knew him, was a quiet boy. He helped when someone asked for it, he was fast and nimble enough to run away in the beginning before he could be targeted for kunai and shuriken stealing. He was _shy._

But when they put a sword in his hand, no one could look at his face and call him _shy._ It was a little like Chojuro. It would be funny if they were related considering they looked nothing alike. Haru had dark hair that- maybe, in the right light- could be called midnight blue and his eyes were ash-gray. His eyes were quite pretty but uncommon.

It was apparent to beginners like us that he did, indeed, have a teacher. But, you didn't speak about things like that. If you did, the mysterious benefactor could have you and their student dead and no one would be willing to point fingers no matter how talented the students could have been.

So, Haru continued to move his sword smoothly while everyone else stumbled about with their sword. The other girl looked at Haru with respect and defiance and clutched her sword, determined to do better than the new talent. She turned around and our eyes met. Her eyes narrowed and she held up her sword in challenge.

I smirked back at her, lifting my sword as well.

"Stop getting distracted and continue with the next step." The Instructor said from right behind me. I almost jumped in surprise, restraining myself to a sharp jerk. I turned around towards him and nodded.

I looked back and saw Haru smiling at me instead. I winked at him, in return. The Instructor rolled his eyes at the exchange, ignoring it, to continue his class.

Everyone knew by now that I was his favorite. Which also meant, I got away with more things, but that I also had to perform better than almost everyone in the class, regardless of their seniority over me. It was a give-and-take situation.

The class timings had started to last till evening on the third month. It had started to take so much time, it was hard to do most of the after class training. I still ran and did different types of training but now, I started socializing a little more as well.

The Academy was supposed to take two years. The first year was things that would let us fight if our Village was every invaded or any emergencies. Now, we were taught to run and how to defend and carry the basics of what made us a Village. If the Village couldn't continue, we had the very basic knowledge of what made us Kiri.

The second year was where they hammered in the taijutsu and kenjutsu into our body. They made us match up against each other and determined our skill level which would lead to the match making in the Graduation Exam.

So, the first year showed which kind of people were naturally talented. Haru was and so was I. But so was this angry girl who sometimes took the time to give annoyed pointers and then insult the ground I walked on.

It was actually tougher to get her name than any advice she deigned to throw at me. It was hilarious, let me tell you. Would you like to know what her name was?

A girl with red hot temper that probably went hand in hand with the Uzumaki clan.

_Mei Terumi._

* * *

**Medicine: Level 57 - 67**

**Telepathy: Level 27 - 34**

**Cooking: Level 44 - 50**

**Run: Level 70 - 74**

**Stealth: Level 15 - 28**

**Projectile: Level 7 - 8**

**Instinct: Level 1 - 2**

**Awareness: Level 56 - 71**

**Weapon Handling: Level 1**


End file.
